LAKELAND, Fla.,None — A culprit in the shooting of a Lakeland police officer was caught on Monday, authorities said.
Police said 18-month veteran Arnolfo Crispin received life-threatening injuries after being shot while on a routine patrol late Sunday night.
According to police, 25-year-old Crispin stopped to talk to three suspicious men near an apartment complex on Crystal Grove Drive late Sunday night. What happened to Crispin next remains unclear.
When a second officer arrived about seven minutes later, he found Crispin unresponsive.
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- Slideshow: Officers searching for suspects
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Police cordoned off a large section of the area overnight as officers searched vehicles and went door-to-door seeking information about the suspects. At least 12 law enforcement agencies offered assistance in the manhunt, Dinges said.
Police arrested 19-year-old Kyle Williams and charged him with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer. Police said Williams's mother came to the station Monday morning and got her son on the phone with an officer, who instructed him to turn himself in to an officer on the street.
The suspect's father, Reginald Mitchell, told WFTV that he's praying for the officer, but said he finds it difficult to believe that his son was involved in Crispin's shooting.
"Everyone needs to come out and say what happened, who did what, and tell the truth about it because there are a lot of things at stake," Mitchell said.
Suspect Williams has been arrested before for resisting without violence and burglary.
Lakeland police spokeswoman Ann Dinges said Crispin's condition was "grave" after surgery Monday morning.
"When backup officers arrived, they found him shot and unresponsive," Dinges said.
At last update, Crispin was still listed as critical. WFTV was told that he comes from a large family and his mother, father and siblings have been at Lakeland Regional Medical Center since the officer was admitted.
"Keep Officer Crispin in your prayers, him and his family," Lakeland police chief Lisa Womack said.
Womack described Crispin on Monday as an outstanding officer who's represented the Lakeland Police Department well in his 18 months on the job.
Lakeland's police department has just 226 officers. The police chief said the last time an officer was shot in the line of duty in Lakeland was in the late 1990s. But the mid 1980s was the last time one of the department's officers was seriously injured by a shooting in the line of duty.
"This is something that hasn't ocurred at the Lakeland Police Department in a very long time and we hope it never happens again," Womack said.
No other suspects were being sought, Dinges said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.